Consisted from: Geoff McClelland (guitar/voc),
Andy Ellison (vocals), John Hewlett (bass) and Chris Townson (drums). Actually,
that period band passed without Marc. John's children were among the first
psychedelically-orientated pop bands in Britain. As Andy said: 'We did
take a lot of acid...a friend used to come round with LSD sugar lumps and
we would wander around Leatherhead tripping - or else we'd take boats out
on the river Mole and just drift about. One day we had this acid-crazed
scheme to row down the Mole, into the Thames, and go to the Speakeasy!
But the boat got waterlogged and we were sitting there with water washing
around our ankles. No wonder our records had a psychedelic edge - lots
of people were trying out acid.'

2. John's children #2. (March 67- June 67).

Marc Bolan arrived and Geoff quitted. They switched
to the new track label but released only one single in this form. Played
the 14 hour technicolour Dream at Alexandra Palace and toured Germany with
the Who. Their single was never played on the radio because of the line:
'Lift up your skirt and fly', which killed the chances to become more or
less popular. But, surely, the song was played on pirates' radio as often
as it was possible. As for Marc, he, disgruntled about his subordinate
role in the group, left soon.

When Marc left John's children, it was his intension
to form a 5 piece rock group but his financial situation made this impractical.
So he built up acoustic duo. Spotted by Tony Visconti at the UFO club and
singed to Regal Zonophone label. Enjoyed the support of John Peel, then
the most influential dj in Britain. They released 3 albums and 4 singles.

4. Tyrannousaurus Rex #2. (October 69 - December
70).

Steve left to be replaced by Micky Finn (who took
bongos, too). In September 70 Tyrannosaurus Rex was abbreviated to T.REX
(less of a mouthful). Bolan suddenly returned to the electric guitar for
the first time since John's children.

5. T.Rex #1. (December 70 - July 73).

Consisted from: Marc Bolan (gtr/voc), Micky Finn
(bongos/voc), Steve Currie (bass) and Bill Legend (drums). The above line-up
also cut a second album, T.Rex, which was antiquated by the time
it came out because T.Rex had now expanded into a full-blown rock band.
This was to be Bolan's most successful period, punctuated by 4 number one
singles and 2 number one albums. Bolan toured in Britain to riots, screaming
and fainting, toured the USA twice, toured the Far East, starred in 'Born
to boogie' directed by Ringo Starr and singed with EMI who created a special
label for him.

6. T.Rex #2. (July 73 - November 73).

Added Jack Green (from Sunshine) and three backing
singers (one of them - his new flame Gloria Jones) for a tour of America
and Far East.

7.T.Rex #3. (January 74- November 74).

Consisted from: Gloria Jones (keyb/voc) + Marc
Bolan (gtr/voc), Davy Lutton (drums), Steve Currie (bass), Jack Green (guitar),
Micky Finn (bongos/voc) plus two more chicks on backing vocals. Bolan's
grip is now beginning to falter: he's seen the top ten for the last time.
After a while Marc leaves Britain as a tax exile.

8.T.Rex #4. (November 74 - December 74).

Jack Green left for the Pretty things and, besides,
Bolan parted company with Mick Finn, his partner for just over 5 years.
By now the press is really slagging him off, mocking his decline. Bolan
sits in his Monte Carlo tax haven and shrugs it off: '1974 was the worst
year of my career, I agree... but next year I'll be on top again'.

9. T.Rex #5. (January 75 - August 76).

The same line-up recorded Futuristic dragon.
After that Gloria became a mother and Steve Currie became a session musician.

10. T.Rex #6. (November 76 - September 77).

Line-up: Marc Bolan (gtr/voc), Dino Dines (keyboards),
Tony Newman (drums), Herbie Flowers (bass) and Miller Anderson (guitar).
This line-up recorded Dandy and made a comeback for Bolan, who,
alas, was killed when his car hit a tree. He was only 29.

Part2. You already know my opinion about this
great band but I still have some questions to you. First of all, where
is the general evaluation? So here's my one: Listenability: 4/5. Yes, sometimes
Marc becomes too boring and sometimes too funky but that's only sometimes.
Resonance: 3/5. After 'Electric warrior' (which wasn't just a glam record)
Marc's song suddenly became faceless (maybe except 'Life's an elevator'
and 'Spaceball ricochet') Originality: 3/5. All in all, he is the person
who invented glam-rock, isn't he? Adequacy: 4/5. For the most part, Marc
never overestimated himself. Overall: 3.5 = * * * on the general rating
scale.

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

I must state first and foremost that I am a pretty big T. Rex fan. Although
living in Australia, I am still missing a couple of albums. They are almost
impossible to find. Marc Bolan is shunned as much in Australia as he is
in the US. Most surprisingly though is that I have had no trouble finding
the first four albums. At the moment I am missing T. Rex and Tanx,
but I will try my best to rectify the situation. It actually took me a
long time to ‘get in’ to T. Rex. As I have complained about elsewhere,
I don’t know anyone with knowledge about 60s and 70s music so I have to
do most of my research via the internet. Stations that play old music recycle
the same crap over and over again, and the means the only songs I knew
by T. Rex were ‘Get it On’ and ‘Hot Love’. I was told by someone who kind
of knew T. Rex to download the following tracks: ‘Beltane Walk’, ‘Ride
a White Swan’ ‘Cosmic Dancer’ and ‘Metal Guru’. Although I really liked
‘Cosmic Dancer’ the other three really didn’t grab me. Then I was told
to download ‘Child Star’ and I was turned off T. Rex for good. I of course
didn’t realise that the song was from the early hippie period. If only
I was told to download something like ‘Children of the Revolution’ of ‘The
Slider’ I probably would have fallen in love with T. Rex right there and
then. Then I was watching the film Billy Elliot and recognised a couple
of the tracks as T. Rex. The film contained ‘Children of the Revolution’
which is still possibly my favourite T. Rex track. This track was the ‘clincher’
as far as me becoming a T. Rex fan.

Sorry for that boring story. Let’s get to the actual band itself. It
is very doubtful that Marc Bolan changed his name to be a contraction of
Bob Dylan. His original name was Mark Feld. A friend told him to change
his name to Marc because that was more unique I suppose. When he cut his
first single, his last name was changed to Bowland, the reasons I imagine
is that the record company didn’t want a singer with a Jewish last name.
Marc was shocked by this, but eventually came to a compromise – he would
drop the “w” and the “d”. Anyway he had a somewhat beautiful and distinct
voice. From a purist point of view, his voice was nothing special, but
he somehow delivered the majority of songs with enough energy/sincerity/conviction/whatever,
and his voice integrated wonderfully well with the backing vocals. Obviously,
in the first couple of albums he preferred to demonstrate his ‘bleating’
vocals over his hippie mantras. However, take an album with melodies such
as Unicorn and tell me that his voice is not beautiful. He is also
a fantastic guitar player, whether it be the ‘bland’ strumming of early
albums or the traditional boogie with the thick 70s guitar tone he played
on Electric Warrior and The Slider. In fact, although The
Slider is disappointing in some aspects, I like the album so much because
of the guitar riffs, but more about that in the actual album comments.
He also provided the band/duet with some incredibly unique and intriguing
lyrics. While they were not always comprehensible, they are often entertaining.
Syd Barrett was a definite influence for Marc Bolan (in the Tyrannosaurus
Rex days). He even once said “What The Pink Floyd do electrically, we do
acoustically.” (Notice that Pink Floyd still had the definite article before
their name at that stage.) The lyrics only descended into clichéd
passages occasionally, most obviously during Bolan’s Zip Gun and
Futuristic Dragon.

As for the other members, the standouts are Steve Peregrine Took, Mickey
Finn and Gloria Jones! Special consideration should also go to Tony Visconti
for production and the subtle but important string arrangements, and Howard
Kaylan and Mark Volman (aka Flo and Eddie) who provided very important
and distinct backing vocals during the Electric Warrior/Slider/Tanx
era. I should also mention Bill Legend and Steve Currie as they provided
a wonderful rhythm section during the Electric Warrior/Slider/Tanx
era. Took’s greatest moment is Unicorn. Listen to the drumming on
‘Chariots of Silk’. Absolutely sublime. Mickey Finn, while being the longest
serving member bar Marc himself, has in fact a negligible influence. He
didn’t even perform most of the percussion on A Beard of Stars as
he had just joined the duet and Marc didn’t have enough time to teach him
the parts, and he was almost obsolete after Electric Warrior. However his
percussion sound is more important to the band than it would seem at first
glance. Now Gloria Jones… arguably she single handedly destroyed T. Rex.
That is exaggeration, but she does ruin many good T. Rex songs with her
damn screeching. The worst example is ‘Truck On (Tyke)’ which is almost
unlistenable. Actually she does provide a couple of nice moments, the obvious
examples being ‘Sitting Here’, ‘Dock of the Bay’ and her aaahhhing is really
nice on ‘New York City’.

Interestingly, T. Rex’s legacy seems to be in advertising now. ‘Get
it On’ has been used in countless TV commercial in Australia, and no doubt
other countries in the world. ‘Children of the Revolution’ was used in
a phone commercial recently, and ‘20th Century Boy’ was used in a car commercial.
But my “favourite” is using ‘I Love to Boogie’ to advertise the energy
gained from eating pork here in Australia.

One thing that really annoys me about T. Rex is how many of the tracks
were released as singles and not on any studio album. Fantastic songs like
‘Ride a White Swan’, ‘Hot Love’ and ‘Children of the Revolution’ aren’t
on any of the studio albums. At least Edsel (the company that is reissuing
the T. Rex catalogue) have included all the archive songs on the albums
from The Slider onwards. However you will have to obtain any earlier
songs like ‘Hot Love’ using your own methods. I think it’s a crime that
‘Hot Love’ has been left of Electric Warrior in any form of the
album. Another thing is that there are myriads of T. Rex compilations.
I have come across about eight different greatest hits packages and often
these are stocked in preference to the actual albums.

Sorry this turned out to be so long and boring, but considering so few
people care about T. Rex now, it probably won’t be read.

In my mind, if we are talking strictly from a musical point of view,
then glam rock was and still is something of a fiction. From just about
every point of view it was a short lived but unusual phenomenon {not least
because a whole host of punks were raised on and had an affinity for glam},
but musically ? Naw. There was no real identifiable glam sound, most of
it could have been by a whole load of different groups that were never
identified as glam. I mean, Bowie, Slade, The Sweet, Sparks, Kiss, Roxy
music, Gary Glitter, Mott the Hoople, Alice Cooper, Sailor, Mud, Cockney
Rebel, Queen, Alvin Stardust, Hello and even Elton John in one of his guises
could all be counted as glam but musically you could get at least three
and probably four different musical genres out of that lot. What they had
in common was style that was deliberately superficial and from that vantage
point, even the Stones fell into glam and glitter in the 74ish period.
And even that wasn't particularly original; clothing was an increasingly
essential part of pop culture and the bands in the vanguard. Glam strikes
me as the musical period where alot of bands and singers that had struggled
in one guise or another in the 60s came good {or let's say popular} in
their own right and found a niche. T. Rex were certainly one of them. In
fact, Marc Bolan has been credited with accidentally starting glam by putting
some glitter on his cheeks before a TV appearence and forgetting to take
it off - but it caught on and the rest is history. Mind you, it's hard
to take too much seriously when dealing with Marc Bolan because perhaps
more than the Beatles, myth and reality have so merged, it's often impossible
to determine which is which ! But I digress. George is bang on when he
says that unlike most of T. Rex's contemporaries that had a 60s past, Bolan
had a fantastic legacy. Only Bowie really could claim to have written much
worthwhile stuff prior to the 70s and at least at that point, he wasn't
really in the same league, melodically. Tyrannosaurus Rex are something
of an anomaly; though thought of as "folkie", they weren't folk,
neither were they rock, though they could cook with as much verve and energy
as any band of their contemporaries. One of the great paradoxes of popular
music, they were rather something of a fake coz they only ended up playing
as an acoustic duo coz Track records repossessed their drums and electric
guitars {Rex did at one point comprize of five members and were a rock
band that never rehearsed and ended up sounding crap, hence Track pulling
the plug, although whether this is myth, truth or slight embellishment
is anyone's guess}. In future interviews, Bolan made it clear that he had
always wanted to be a big star and that the electric route was always where
he was headed; even his then famous quote about what the Pink Floyd did
electronically Rex did acoustically is kind of revealing....I find it fascinating
that he didn't compare the band to, say, the Incredible String Band. But
I don't want to sound unfair by calling the band fakes, and I use the term
very tongue in cheek. Marc upset alot of hippies when he "went pop
and electric" and there was often some friction with him and Steve
Took. Took was a real drug taking radical "let's put LSD in all the
sewers and resevoirs" overturn society hippy while Marc didn't do
drugs at that time. Just before he died, the New Musical Express asked
the question "Was he really the skinny hippy ? Was he just holding
his stomach in ?" which in retrospect isn't unfair. But the Hippies
that got upset with him tended to be as uptight as the establishment they
sought to get shot of, just as controlling, in my mind. And what that acoustic
guitar and bongo {and the later percussive additions} set up did, particularly
over the first three albums, was give Marc the opportunity to really hone
his craft, learn how to get to the kernel of a song, make a song work on
it's own terms, learn how to arrest a listener with a killer melody and
sparse but interesting accompaniment. Some of those Tyrannosaurus Rex songs
are absolutely fantastic. You didn't have to be into folk to appreciate
them. I particularly appreciate the way he took two voices {on the occasions
Took would harmonize, he had a natural ear for harmony}, one guitar and
a set of bongoes with sometimes a couple of other elements and made that
combination as interesting as anything you care to name that was being
recorded at the time. Crazy, wonderful songs like CHILD STAR, STRANGE ORCHESTRAS
or SALAGANDA PALAGANDA that were generally clever, short and memorable.
The impression I've sometimes gotten from alot of these songs is that Marc
wanted them to sound as mystically and mytholgically "knowing"
as songs composed by an acid enhanced mind and much of his Hippy audience
fell for it, thinking that here was "one of them", hence their
anger when he "found" his true voice. But a listen to some of
the flopped singles of '69 and '70 and their B sides like KING OF THE RUMBLING
SPIRES and FIND A LITTLE WOOD, not to mention album tracks like ELEMENTAL
CHILD and LOFTY SKIES plus some then unreleased gems from '69 like THE
SEAS OF ABYSINNIA and BLESSED WILD APPLE GIRL shows him using psychedelic
instrumentation like bass, drums and mellotron as well as electric guitar
and wah-wah pedals and Eastern and Arabic sounding melodies. His was a
neat evolution back to where he really wanted to be and T. Rex were wildly
successful. I remember growing up with them, I first heard of them off
a record my Mum had {HOT LOVE} and they were just one of a host of groups/singers
that were really popular in the early 70s; I never really listened to them
at that time with both ears, I was too busy eyeing up my sister's friends
who liked them coz they seemed so sophisticated to a ten year old. But
even then, you got an admiring look if you knew that T.Rex was short for
Tyrannosaurus Rex {which it wasn't but it made you sound wise}. Now I come
to think about it, that's where I first heard about dinosaurs. As stupid
as it sounds, popular music has often proved to be a door to learning about
things that have nothing to do with music. Anyway, three major things passed
over from the dinosaur incarnation to pop hero time~ one was Marc's unerring
ear for a great melody. 20th CENTURY BOY, TELEGRAM SAM, GET IT ON and others
were great melodies that the music could only enhance and were so singable.
The second thing was his lyrical prowess. Few people could get away with
the nonsense he got away with ! He may have liked his mythology in the
60s but his was the living epitome of the unfathomable lyric. He sounded
like he was on drugs even though he wasn't. But much of his early 70s output
wasn't much better, just not mock-acidy. He took ordinary idiot level phrases
and crafted them into great singable songs. TELEGRAM SAM is a great example.
Marvelous. If you look at some of his sex songs, any mystery or passion
is taken away, yet they kind of work. He could make the washing up sound
good enough to chart ! Then thirdly, there's his guitar playing, both acoustic
and electric. On the electric, he knocked out some great riffs and lines
that many a heavy band would've been happy to work with while on the acoustic,
I find him completely unique. While at that point in the 60s guitarists
that played acoustic were using all kinds of tunings and finger styles
and trying to sound like sitarists, he was strumming in a bizarre yet simple
fashion that was mysterious and lovely to listen to and served the songs
so well. ELEMENTAL CHILD falls in between, using the electric in the first
part of that song, the way he'd used the acoustic previously. While there
are precedents for that kind of thing {for example, Syd Barrett on THE
GNOME}, Bolan's use of it here is devastating~yet it doesn't detract from
a superlative melody and lyric. He was underated coz his perceived strengths
lay elsewhere.

I personally prefer the '67 to '70 period and I think that Steve Took
has to take some credit for that too. He never really did much after, being
something of an acid casualty though he did attempt some recordings with
the late Syd Barrett that predictably came to nought. Ironic, coz Syd had
been a huge influence on Marc, not least in his stage attire and glittery
androgeny......

ALBUMSTHE BEGINNING
OF DOVES

Øyvind Erland <brennesle@yahoo.no> (09.07.2001)

Some info on Beginning of Doves by Marc Bolan. I first heard
the stuff on a double-LP, mixing John's Children-songs with most of the
..Doves-stuff, including early-80s-remixes(!) of those early demos.
Can't rememember the name of the shit, well I actually love the Bolan-stuff,
his 66-67 producer (Simon Napier-Bell) had added drums, bass, el.guitar
and other stuff to the demoes and it sounds great. Wow this sound is better
than both Tyr. and T., was my first thought, how could he have done that
in the mid-60's? Ok, I hate the standard-80's sound (I'm no idiot), but
this sound is definately not standard-80's, in fact fits the songs very
well. Well you got to hear it to believe it. But keep in mind I heard the
remixes before the originals... Yeah I think Doves wasn't released
before late 80's. And when I first heard it I thought, hey something is
missing, in fact almost everything! Yeah, comparing those two albums indeed
shows how much production can affect a song.

The Bolan-part of the double LP's has been released later as (at least..)
both "You scare me to death" and "Love and Death"(CD).

By the way: John's Children sucks seriously, at least the songs without
Bolan (all exept for 1? - which is not included on the mentioned album)
Sorry for my English

MY
PEOPLE WERE FAIR AND HAD SKY IN THEIR HAIR BUT NOW THEY'RE CONTENT TO WEAR
STARS ON THEIR BROWS

Splendid debut album! Yes, you guessed right -
I don't consider this to be an acoustic crap. For me this is just the flow
of mind of ordinary hippie - just look: cars, Tolkien, Indian music (yes!
Right now I remembered that 1968 was the year of Indian 'crap'!), Pink
Floyd, Dylan and etc... And this is extremely interesting. Somehow I managed
to close my eyes on the fact that there're only two instruments and ...
I had thirty minutes of pleasure. But, you know, this half an hour lasted
for me only few moments. It's really strange for me to hear such things
from myself but I really think that it's too short. In fact, Marc Bolan
was the only artist who managed to grab my breath away. Even famous Russian
actor/songwriter Vladimir Vysotskiy couldn't do it.

Actually I don't quite understand how you managed
to write such a long review on this album. You know, it's an experience,
which I find hard to explain. And 'My people were fair' itself is a hate/love
thing. If one doesn't like sitting in headphones, listening to wonderful
acoustic guitar (and Marc plays it in very unusual way here), remembering
some happy days of his/her (though, I can hardly imagine a girl/woman listening
My people were fair) life, stupidly starring into the space and
totally losing the sense of time... well... then it's really crap for him/her.
As for me, I think that My people is just what you need when you
have about half an hour of free time and cozy seat...

PS. George, did you ever have an idea that Unicorn
is a sequel to My people? Well, not exactly sequel, but it's built
in the same way! Even in the end of these two albums Marc reads the title.
Besides, there's a children's story (read by John Peel in both cases!)
in the end of album. My point is that My people deserves nearly
the same rating as Unicorn. Though, the latter had something mystical
inside so, in my opinion, a fair rating to My people would be 12/15.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com>
(06.09.2003)

I don't know, I really kind of see all of the
first Tyrannosaurus Rex albums as something of equals to one another. Maybe
it's because I haven't listened to them enough really, but I got into Bolan
about two years ago and have been obsessed with everything T-Rex ever since!
Basically, it sounds like if the Incredible String Band had one singer,
and this was Syd Barrett trying to act like a goat. The results are otherworldly
and folky at the same time, and these first albums are jam-packed with
amazing melodies and beautiful imagery. "Hot Rod Mama", "Strange
Orchestras", and "Frowning Atahuallpa" are my favorites.
But the best track on the record (and the one that makes me keep going
back to it before the other Tyrranosaurus ones) is the final, where John
Peel tells a long poem piece, Marc breaking into a beautiful short epilogue
at the end. If you're a fan of psychedelic folk, PLEASE do not pass this
up. 8

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

This album is definitely an experience, not necessarily a good experience,
but an experience all the same. I could easily listen to this many times
over unlike you George, but I suppose I am a bit of a T. Rex fanatic compared
to you. In fact the album is a great one to listen to before you go to
sleep. I’m not saying it is so boring that it will make you sleep. Really,
if you are about to sleep Marc’s bleating voice will surely wake you up.
What I mean is that the album is a great way to wind down, hopefully the
last thing that will be on your mind before you sleep is Marc’s vocals
on ‘Frowning Atahuallpa’.

Actually Marc and Took were unhappy with the production on this album,
as they believed the engineers didn’t understand the style of music. Tony
Visconti was with the duo at this time, but he didn’t make such an active
role in the sound until the next album. In any event, the highlights for
me are ‘Strange Orchestras’ and ‘Frowning Atahuallpa’. But really there
are small amounts of highlights littered throughout the album. The majority
of the highlights are mostly the way in which Marc is able to twist his
voice. The are some beautiful vocal moments on ‘Scenescof’, ‘Strange Orchestras’,
‘Chateau in Virginia Waters’ and ‘Dwarfish Trumpet Blues’ but the greatest
is ‘Frowning Atahuallpa’. The scatting part that you mentioned George is
the greatest and most surprising moment on the album. The song degenerates
though, I don’t care for anything once the John Peel story begins. Really,
the majority of the songs have vocal hooks, it just takes a lot of listens
to for them to imprint themselves on your brain. However, I can understand
if most people couldn’t listen to it enough times for that to happen. I
got a bit lost and bored the first few times, and that still happens now.
Took’s constant “pitter patter” on the bongos can get tiresome. He is great
in Unicorn when he has a large arsenal of percussion instruments,
but for now we have to be content with bongos. And I still struggle to
remember how some of the songs go… What does ‘Knight’ or ‘Weilder of Words’
sound like? I can’t remember. And some of the ones I remember aren’t anything
to write home about. For me, I couldn’t give this as high as an 11 because
it is not that great an album. It is merely an interesting trip through
Marc Bolan’s… psyche? Not really but it is a very different experience
all the same. This is an experience, but one that cannot be explained.
Actually I will state it now, Tyrannosaurus Rex’s first two albums are
indescribable. You will just have to have a listen for yourself.

<bird3000@inbox.ru> (19.07.2004)

Jesus, that guy must have been crazy!!! Really, this guy must have been
mentally ill!!! This is a crazy stuff and the main point of this stuff
is that it's a crazy stuff.

James Hunter <jhmusicman12@hotmail.com>(31.12.2005)

I have to point out, Georgie porgie, that My People Were Fair...
does not have the longest title around. That honor goes to Fiona Apple
and her second album the title of which is as follows: When The Pawn
Hits The Conflicts He Thinks Like A King What He Knows Throws The Blows
When He Goes To The Fight And He'll Win The Whole Thing Fore He Enters
The Ring There's No Baby To Batter When Your Mind is Your Might So When
You Go Solo. You Hold Your Own Hand And Remember That Depth Is The Greatest
Of Heights And If You Know Where You Stand. Then You'll Know Where To Land
And If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You Know That You're Right

Thankfully, Fiona's a great artist, so it's okay for her to do that

PROPHETS,
SEERS & SAGES THE ANGELS OF THE AGES

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

This is very much My People Were Fair… part 2. There are more
tracks, and some of them are total wastes like ‘Our Wonderful Brownskin
Man’, and many of them are totally forgettable, much like the tracks on
My People Were Fair…. There is a tiny amount of progression (or
in actual fact a regression) in that all the songs deal with myths, fantasy
and other non modern themes unlike My People Were Fair… which featured
references to cars and the like. ‘Deboraarobed’ and ‘Stacey Grove’ are
the highlights of the album, however it’s not a very good idea to put them
at the start as it causes the album to drag. The version of ‘Deboraarobed’
that is reversed actually differs slightly from the original single version,
of which I pre! fer. But the version presented here is still very good.
It is amazing, and also quite scary how similar the reversed part sounds
to the normal part. ‘Stacey Grove’ is indeed the best song here, Marc’s
voice is beautiful and it gives a hint of what would be next on Unicorn.
‘Conesuala’ is also very nice, and I would have no hesitation in putting
this in the ‘highlight’ category as well. Again Steve Took is still offering
mostly boring “pitter patter” percussion, so most of the highlights are
caused by Marc’s unique vocal twists. The percussion in ‘Trelawny Lawn’
offers some interest at least. Took is mostly silent except for a great
flurry of drums interspersed throughout the song. ‘Salamanda Palaganda’
and ‘Eastern Spell’ are both often placed on compilations of the Tyrannosaurus
Rex years, but I couldn’t care for either of them. They are much like everything
else here. Not surprisingly ‘Eastern Spell’ has a heavy eastern flavour.!
There are still a couple of nice moments on the second side with ‘O Harley
(The Saltimbaques)’ and ‘The Traveling Tragition’. In addition I actually
like ‘Scenescof Dynasty’ but I warn you I LIKE MARC BOLAN A LOT. If you
do not, you are very unlikely to enjoy this “song”. With the money raised
from this album, the duet was finally able to purchase some new equipment,
including a new Suziki guitar for Marc, and various percussion instruments
(and even a Pixiepipe) for Took, which would prove extremely useful on
Unicorn. As for the 45 minute compilation of Tyrannosaurus Rex’s first
two albums, here is the tracklist I would suggest.

That tracklist would provide 38 minutes of music, so I suppose you could
add ‘Mustang Ford’, ‘Salamanda Palaganda’ and ‘Eastern Spell’ which are
supposed to be good songs but I don’t like them too much. Not surprisingly
My People Were Fair… dominates the songs, with most of the songs
from the first side of each album. This would indicate that both the albums
can drag which is true.

Paul Watts <paulwatts@optushome.com.au> (19.09.2005)

This was the second and final LP of what I would term Marc Bolan's "acoustic
boogaloo" period, which was triumphantly brought to a close by the
magnificent (but dismal sales-wise) single 'Pewter Suitor', a superb example
of rollicking danceable boogie achieved using only acoustic instruments,
and which unfortunately isn't on this or any other regular Tyrannosaurus
album but does appear on some compilations. It is a pity it isn't included
here, even on latter day versions of Prophets, as it was for me
easily the best of all the Tyrannosaurus singles and would have fit perfectly
on this record, as would 'One Inch Rock', also a single about the same
time. Both this record and My People are peppered with songs that
hint somewhat at later, rockier works with the full four piece electric
T.Rex. This record is generally at its most enjoyable when Bolan is boogie-ing,
such as on 'Salamanda Palaganda', 'Conesuala' and the remade 'Eastern Spell'.
'Stacey Grove' is a nice acoustic ballad. 'The Travelling Tragician' points
most strongly toward the glorious Unicorn, the album that followed.
Most of the rest is forgettable. 'Deboraarobed', another remake, is inferior
to the original but barely OK if you don't try to compare the two.

'The Scenescof Dynasty' is certainly the product of a vivid imagination,
telling the story of Marc and Susie's adventures inside the brain of some
fearsome Tolkeinesque creature. It runs for four and a half minutes but
seems much longer and is certainly a curiosity. You might listen to it
once, twice or maybe even thrice, marvel at the imagination at work, the
interesting backing vocals, the way with words, and the chutzpah of Bolan
to create this song without the use of a single musical instrument. And
then never want to hear it ever again. An experiment, certainly, but a
failed one.

I get the feeling Prophets was a bit of an early low point in
the career of Marc Bolan. The first album was sort of half decent amid
the euphoria of scoring a recording contract, but Marc didn't seem to have
enough material of decent quality to carry off this second LP hot on the
heels of the first. It is to his eternal credit that his next effort, Unicorn,
would be a major improvement in every way, and a moderate chart success
as well, but more importantly it would in time become known as one of the
finest achievements of its era. I'm not sure Unicorn was in Marc
Bolan's master plan, though, but we can be thankful that he decided to
make the diversion. Prophets and the first album (and 'Pewter Suitor')
make it abundantly clear that Marc already believed that he was "Born
To Boogie".

Oh, yeah, this is not an album, this is unforgettable
experience. Unfortunately, it's overlooked by almost everyone (if not,
why I'm the first one to mail ideas?). Though, it's quite understandable.
See, 1969 - The Late Beatles, Golden Stones, Open Doors and Bob Dylan...
Marc was simply overshadowed. Anyway, to the album itself. On first look
one may dismiss it as 'drunken hippie crap' and it's quite understandable,
too. In fact this was my reaction was when I heard this album for the first
time. You know, switching from Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St
to this acoustic masterpiece is really a tough case. But I managed to forget
about poor instrumental arrangements and dug the lyrics with Bolan's voice.
Indeed, it can't be repeated, unique thing. At first it sounds really weird
and uncomfortable but then... Now to me it sounds very gently and pleasant.

As for the songs, they are great, too. Melodies
are VERY strong (but, again, lack of instruments leaves its print here...)
and manage somehow to come straight to your heart. You know, I listened
to this piece of art (not album, mind you) more than ten times but even
now I can't remember all the melodies. Very rich album. And the lyrics
are terrific, too (have I already said it?). Something happens in my heart
(no kidding) when I hear 'Like a white star, tangled and far, tulip that's
what you are' or 'She was born to be my unicorn'... Weird, really weird...
Plus, I would like to mention this childish chanting in the beginning/ending
of ''Pon a hill'. You don't even imagine how I adore it! It sounds nothing
like, say, Yoko's chanting.

Ratings? Heh, do you really expect me to give
it less than 10/10? In fact, this piece of art should get 14/15 on your
overall scale. And as for the best song... Maybe 'Catblack' but I'm not
sure...

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

According to most Tyrannosaurus Rex aficionados (of which there are
few) this is the pinnacle of the pre Electric Warrior years, although
I tend to rate it more or less equal to A Beard of Stars. I should
stress though that I rate them equally for different reasons. For one thing
Unicorn features Took's percussion and mostly beautiful backing
vocals, which is lacking on A Beard of Stars. A Beard of Stars
is more poppish and has wonderful electric guitar embellishments which
Unicorn doesn't have. Both of the albums have strong (and sometimes
catchy) melodies, almost non existent on the first two albums album. So
ultimately I view them as equals.

Now onto the album at hand. The only unlikable track is 'Romany Soup'
which George has already mentioned. Now I'm not sure what Marc was thinking
here, but he used to boast about the amount of tracks used while recording
it and the excessive time it took to mix. He must have forgotten about
making an actual song though. The "song" features the second
part of the story that was read by John Peel that was first heard on My
People Were Fair…. As for the highlights just take any of the other
15 tracks. Actually I think 'Stones for Avalon' is a bit weak only saved
by Took's backing vocals. I'm not too big on 'She was Born to be my Unicorn'
or 'Warlord of the Royal Crocodiles' which are both generally fan favourites.
Don't get me wrong, they are still good songs, I just feel they are overshadowed
by the other fantastic tracks on offer. 'Catblack (The Wizard's Hat)' is
the true masterpiece on the album. I have no hesitation and stating it
as the greatest Tyrannosaurus Rex song. It is probably the only ever Tyrannosaurus
song I have ever liked in first listen. Marc's sly (and seemingly "lazy")
vocals are placed on a delightful descending organ and Visconti's relaxed
piano, all underpinned by Took's fantastic drumming. Other highlights include
the delightful 'Chariots of Silk' (with Took's fantastic percussion) and
the beautiful 'Like a White Star…'. This song actually shows Marc writing
some more regular lyrics which would result in 'By the Light of the Magical
Moon' on the next album. And of course there is your favourite George,
'Iscariot'. This song is scary but in an odd sort of manner. Black Sabbath
this is not. 'Evenings of Damask' features beautiful "ohhing"
backing vocals from Took at the end of each verse, and more beautiful "ahhhing"
backing vocals are present in 'Nijiksky Hind'. As for the tracks I haven't
mentioned, they are still very good, they just do not stand out as much.
This album deserves an easy 13 and possibly a 14.

Paul Watts <paulwatts@optushome.com.au> (14.09.2005)

I agree that this is a timeless classic. Regarded as a weird curiosity
in its day, it was given a folk rock label and regarded as a poor relation
to works such as Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking and Family's
Music in a Dolls House. Three and a half decade later it clearly
surpasses them both. Neither folk nor rock, it is a music all its own.
The reading by John Peel sounds dated, but that is all. The rest is timeless.

This was the last recorded work of Steve Peregrin Took, and some of
his percussion and backing vocals are just other worldly. Special mention
to the bongos on 'The Pilgrim's Tale'. Clearly the magnificent production
of Tony Visconti has brought this about, but the bongos are used in this
song not for rhythm, but to create an ambience to the song. The same thing
was done less successfully on 'Eastern Spell' on the second Tyrannosaurus
album, but with the cavernous production used on Unicorn, it works
perfectly.

It is impossible to say whether later Bolan work, much of which stands
the test of time remarkably well, is the equal or better of Unicorn,
simply because not only did Marc Bolan never revisit the musical territory
that the album occupies (apart from fleeting moments on its successor such
as "Great Horse"), but neither has anyone else, before or since.
It is a truly unique moment in the history of music, and quite a magnificent
one.

It's very easy to dig this album if you like Unicorn.
Indeed, Beard of stars is just a step towards T-REX, pop music and
glam rock. No, one can hardly call this album poppy (the only pop song
here is my favorite 'By the light of the magical moon'), I just wanted
to say that here Marc doesn't show his 'flow-of-conscience' - he REALLY
cares about average listener. In fact, Beard of stars was the second
Bolan's album I listened to. Unfortunately, I couldn't dig it the first
time but after few listens+

The lyrics are not even an inch worse than before.
Do you remember such lines: 'Even though the wind may blow it all away//
Don't you ever worry 'cos I'm your friend+' Ain't it a perfection? Maybe
it's the best song written about friendship/love, really+

'Wind cheetan' is, IMHO, the most frightening
song ever written. I have shivers down my spine every time I hear it. Forget
about Alice Cooper and his imitations of suicide right on the stage.

Ah, it's hard to judge the other songs. They are
mediocre if not taken as whole album. In fact, it's another (the third
one!) experience from Marc. The last impressing and influencing record
and the last record by Tyrannosaurus Rex.

PS. The cover has really something deep in it.
Marc looks here as a little child and as a grown-up at the same time. And
this strange look+ Look of sorrow or happiness? The cover has as many meanings
as you want. Ain't it Mona Lisa 2? Thanks to Pete Sanders for photograph!

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

So Marc Bolan finally goes electric, no it’s not quite a big deal as
when Bob Dylan did the same, but Tyrannosaurus fans were shocked when the
single ‘King of the Rumbling Spires’ was released. The song features an
electric guitar and more or less regular percussion. It caused him to lose
quite a few fans because he had “sold out” and indeed the tracks presented
on the album are much more pop than previous efforts. The album may be
more pop orientated but this isn’t your regular pop, although Marc has
wonderful control of his vocal hooks which are littered throughout the
album. The lyrics are much more pop orientated, but it still contains Marc’s
delightful lyrical twists. Bolan’s Zip Gun this is not. Marc Bolan
had parted with Steve Took. They had been in conflict for much of the US
tour in 1969. They suffered from ideological differences as Took believed
the music was about delivering messages to the people, whereas Marc just
wanted to have fun and become popular. That and the fact that Marc was
annoyed when Took arrived one day in the studio with a heap of songs that
he had written himself. Marc would not allow it as he was the leader of
the band. In addition Took was doing LSD heavily at the time and it was
ruining his ability to play on the tour. In the end Took stayed back in
America as he had met a woman. You are completely correct in stating that
Mickey Finn was hired mostly for his looks. Marc felt that if he grew a
beard he would look almost the same as Took, and the hippies wouldn’t be
able to tell the difference. Finn doesn’t even play much on this album.
All of the tracks had been recorded previousl! y with Took, but due to
legal reasons, all of Took’s tracks had to be erased. Marc didn’t have
enough time to teach Finn all the parts so he recorded the percussion overdubs
himself with a little help from Tony Visconti.

Anyway, let’s get to the actual album. I find it beautiful in so many
ways. ‘Prelude’ is exactly that which leads into ‘A Daye Laye’ – the first
beautiful part of the album. Marc’s vocals are absolutely gorgeous. ‘Woodland
Bop’ seems pretty silly to me, but it’s not too bad. ‘Fist Heart Mighty
Dawn Dart’ is another lovely moment. I love the “Funny how the day comes
slow” lines. This song actually features some of the better percussion
on the album and some delightful electric embellishments. ‘Organ Blues’
is intriguing in the way that the organ imitates the guitar on a traditional
blues track. It’s not surprising that the percussion wasn’t holding down
the track, it was Marc himself playing it, and he’s no percussion expert.
‘By the Light of the Magical Moon’ is another beautiful track and easily
the most “accessible” track ever released by Tyrannosaurus Rex. ‘Wind Cheetah’
is pretty much in! the same vein as ‘Iscariot’. ‘A Beard of Stars’ is a
delightful little instrumental to begin the second side. I really like
the wordless vocals here. ‘Great Horse’ is yet another beautiful track.
Actually the title “beautiful” can also be given to ‘Lofty Skies’ and ‘Dove’.
I’m sorry that this is the only adjective I can think of to describe the
songs on this album, but they are indeed beautiful in every sense of the
word. And finally comes ‘Elemental Child’. I really like the song except
for the parts where he sings “Hold the glove of gold behind you/Love the
glove of Truth.” That just sounds dumb. It’s funny that you mention that
he was an undercover rocker. This was basically his argument when he was
accused of selling out on this album. He was originally a rocker and would
have been for the whole time if his equipment wasn’t repossessed when Tyrannosaurus
Rex first formed. In conclusion I really love this album and would give
it a 14, but I am a T. Rex fanatic so you should probably believe George
rather than me. The only song I don’t care for is ‘Woodland Bop’. Best
song? How about a three way tie between ‘A Daye Laye’, ‘Fist Heart Mighty
Dawn Dart’ and ‘Great Horse’? Sorry I cannot separate them.

T.
REX

William Lawson <laws1908@students.sou.edu> (17.05.2000)

So essential a link in the development of Marc Bolan's song writing,
it's nothing less than amazing that this album often gets overlooked. Nonetheless,
it stands as one of T. Rex's greatest records. A damned good, if obscure,
T. Rex album, Bolan's decision to shorten the name of his band from Tyrannosaurus
Rex to T. Rex here was a logical step, considering the transition his sound
takes on this album from charming "hippie crap" to rock'n'roll.
But it had the unfortunate side effect of convincing some people Bolan
himself was T. Rex. (He was, but not in that way. But then, maybe that's
what he had in mind all along.) Oh, well: It's a great album anyway, and
probably the easiest place to find a recording of 'The Wizzard', here called
'The Wizard'. Like 'Romany Soup' on Unicorn, 'The Wizard' depends
on repetition for its hypnosis, repeating the line "He was a wizard
and he was my friend he was" incessantly. But it does rock out in
fine fashion, and aside for being a little "regressive", in that
it's a new version of an old song (Bolan's would occasionally rework an
old tune, as he later did with 'Children of Rarn') it is a definite move
toward the harder rocking sound of Electric Warrior, and so makes
an indispensable link between A Beard of Stars and Bolan's later
material.

This album has, not one, but two copys of 'The Children of Rarn' on
it; opening and closing the album, and while I don't hate it, it's far
from the best tune on the album (maybe that's why Bolan re-did it). Beside
the tracks mentioned above, this album also includes 'One Inch Rock', 'Seagull
Woman', 'Beltane Walk' and Bolan's siminal metal tune, 'Jewel', which apparently
Bolan saw as a model for his later efforts, 'cause he was still using it
as a "warm up" durring the the Electric Warrior Sessions. I can't
overemphasize how important this album is, simply in terms of song writing.

By the way, the American version of this record included the British
hit single, 'Is It Love', not on the British version. But because of the
rapidly diverging tastes of the British and American music markets, neither
it, nor this album made much of a dent in the U.S. This problem was overcome
with 'Get it On (Bang a Gong)' on the next album.

P.S. Sorry. It was "Ride a White Swan," not "Is It Love."
Interestingly enough, both songs were included on later releases of
A Beard of Stars as a bonus single, on Blue Thumb Records, but were
on included on the Reprise Records lp. Apparently Reprise had enough faith
in the single's future salability, based on its British success, that they
bought it from Blue Thumb to include on the T. Rex lp. Either that,
or they assumed the rights to it, as Bolan's latest single, when he signed
onto Reprise.

And here's the nice link between Tyrannosaurus Rex and T.Rex. After
that glam rock is quite predictable. This record loses a big piece of magic
(but still it is present here) to gain high sales. Plus it's obvious that
soon Marc will build up a new band with four or five members.

T-REX is a nice record with poppy songs. Though among them I
find such gems as 'Beltane walk', mysterious 'Summer deep' and 'The wizard'.
Unfortunately, I couldn't dig 'Jewel' because to me it sounds too sour
(I mean that Marc mustn't jam until he has a good band). 'One inch rock'
is hilarious and, to end the list, I like the lyrics of 'Diamond meadows'.
As I said before, there's not a single bad song among 14 tracks and, what
is more interesting, every cut has still something special inside.

So, goodbye 'hippie-crap' and hello Electric warrior!

Lloyd Peppard <peppardl@post.queensu.ca> (26.05.2003)

Oh Wow! Your review sure made me happy, because this is the ONLY one
of Bolan's early albums that I've been able to find in a record store (without
ordering them all from Amazon at exorbitant prices), and I love it like
crazy, so I'd be thrilled to discover that he did a number of other albums
that were even better.

I was surprised, though, that you picked 'Jewel' as the albums's best
song, since I usually skip over it, something which has little to do with
any dislike for 'Jewel' and more to do with an absolute love of 'The Visit',
which follows it.

Being that I'm almost completely unfamiliar with Bolan's early work,
I'm not sure than I'm ESPECIALLY qualified to comment on this album. But
I will say that I think I prefer it to The Silder, and definately
Tanx and anything that came after that. The LYRICS are just so much
better here than they are on the later stuff. I mean, they're not especially
profound, or anything, but they're pretty and ridiculous, and Bolan sounds
like he's having fun with it, something that seems to be missing from a
lot of The Slider, which sometimes sounds like forced commercialism.
Looking back, it's probably Bowie's fault Marc's songwriting started to
deteriorate, since Bolan was supposedly so envious of Bowie stealing the
spotlight with Ziggy, he couldn't think about anything else. Then
again, I'm not an expert on all things Marc Bolan, so I don't know. All
I DO know is that I only hear him mentioned as a side note whenever someone
is discussing Bowie's glam period, which is a shame because, judging from
what I've read and the evidence on this album, Marc clearly had a style
of his own, created years before Bowie's breakthrough. I wish more people
knew about T. Rex, since the only reason I;d ever heard of them was through
Bowie and the fact that my Mom really liked T. Rex growing up. Anyway...
I hope to become more familiar with T. Rex later on.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com>
(06.09.2003)

I think this is actually my favorite Marc record
of all time, because every song is a song that NEEDS to be listened to,
no matter where I am. The world could be crumbling to pieces and I would
have to sit down and pay attention to this record, that's how in love with
it I am. At the opening Marc declares "We are the seekers of space",
and takes us through the past and present and the imaginary. This is a
tribal, primal record, aimed right at the human race.

Never mind that "Elemental Child" rocks
50 times more than any Black Sabbath from the same time period, and never
mind that "Wizard" is an acoustic freakout with vocal wailing
that puts Robert Plant to shame (tho, bear in mind, he never was all that
to begin with ;-). Those are the record's center pieces, but we also get
amazing transitional songs like "Jewel" that show that Tyrannosaurus
was always one step from T. Rex. And "Diamond Meadows". Quite
possible the most beautiful song of the last 40 years. 10

ELECTRIC
WARRIOR SESSIONS

Michael McDonough <mcd66@home.com> (15.07.2001)

This is charming and interesting but probably not a good investment
for people who haven't already worn out Electric Warrior. It is
best heard in conjunction with the official version.

The most interesting feature on the album is the solid playing of the
newly-integrated four-piece, heard here without "sweetening"
(strings and effects). The new band had just come together a few months
previously to record "Hot Love"; there is a definite sense of
excitement at times as the group realize just how good they sound. (It's
truly unfortunate that Bolan was so determined to hog the spotlight; Steve
Currie and Bill Legend have always deserved more credit than they have
gotten over the years.)

The single best cut is a full-length version of "Get it On"
- the exact same track used as a single and on the album. The complete
track comes to a full stop after a few nice flourishes and sounds stronger
as a result. It's great to be able to hear even more of this classic.

Unfortunately not all the tracks from Electric Warrior are represented
here, because no coherent out-takes were available. Some non-LP tracks
are here to make up numbers; some of these are obvious warm-ups. And there's
obviously no comparison to the finished product. But this is a valid document
of a great band getting together to try and conquer the world.

I wonder how it came that nobody have e-mailed his/her ideas so far
on this album? So I'm the first one...

I got this pretty record yesterday evening and now I'm charmed by it.
You know, I didn't have to listen to it more than one time - I dug all
these tunes with the first attempt. In fact, I'm still wondering how can
few chords and quiet vocal (except the last track) catch you. All these
songs are very catchy, though some of them are obvious remakes of each
other ('Get it on' and 'Motivator', for example) so maybe because of this
the last track is called 'Rip-off'...

Actually, I find it very hard to define the best track here. Mmm...
Maybe 'Life is a gas' which was later transformed into 'Life is real (song
for Lennon)' by Queen (album Hot space if I'm not mistaken). My
rating 9.5/10

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

T. Rex have finally reached the classic line up and attained their classic
sound. This is a huge album in terms of establishing the glam rock genre.
For mind, I love the way Marc and the rest of the members can take a more
or less regular ‘50s rocker and turn it into something memorable. The only
weak track here is indeed ‘Lean Woman Blues’. The new elements added to
T. Rex are more important than it would at first seem. I don’t mean the
bass of Steve Currie and the drums of Bill Legend as they are obvious,
but backing vocals from Flo and Eddie and the orchestration arranged by
Tony Visconti. The orchestration is obvious in some songs and subtle in
others but always provides the songs with deeper textures than ‘50s rockers
that they are imitating. And in the case of ‘Cosmic Dancer’ the strings
are just so damn beautiful. Flo and Eddie, who I have praised many times,
have gorgeous vocal cords! , which combine wonderfully well with Marc’s
voice. There are a few moments of interesting instrumentation, with Blue
Weaver on piano, Burt Collins on Flugelhorn (whatever that is) and Ian
McDonald on saxophone (of King Crimson fame no less). ‘Jeepster’ features
two cellos and a bassoon which are used to reinforce the descending bass
lines. ‘The Motivator’ features the same combination of instruments. In
addition ‘Jeepster’ has Marc pounding with his hands on the wooden floor
in the studio. How’s that for useless trivia?

There are highlights throughout the album. The obvious one is ‘Get It
On’ but I also really like ‘Mambo Sun’, ‘Cosmic Dancer’, ‘Girl’ and ‘Rip
Off’. In fact if I was forced to choose a best song I would probably go
with ‘Cosmic Dancer’. The acoustic strumming is pleasant as are the vocals,
but this song wins with its beautiful atmospheric strings. ‘Mambo Sun’
contains a wonderful rhythm section, and the backing vocals combine in
a fantastic fashion with Marc’s. ‘Girl’ is another beautiful acoustic ballad,
with a nice little horn solo at the end. Sorry I’m not exactly sure what
instrument it is, but I think it’s a trumpet. The song also features enjoyable
electric embellishments reminiscent of A Beard of Stars. And ‘Rip
Off’ finishes the album in an explosive manner. I didn’t always like this
song but it has definitely grown on me. It is definitely mean and angry,
but about what?

The remaining tracks are by no means weak apart from the aforementioned
‘Lean Woman Blues’. This track sounds like a warm up for a Saturday night
blues band down at the pub. ‘Jeepster’ sounds great with the descending
bass line and one of those trademark little riffs (with excellent guitar
tone) punctuated by irregular percussion. A similar type of riff is used
in ‘Get It On’ but this song is so well known I don’t think I would need
to comment on it. And again the same wonderful guitar tone is used in ‘Monolith’.
I love the “It’s no joke, oh no” parts of the song. ‘Planet Queen’ has
obvious similarities to ‘Mambo Sun’, but I much prefer the arrangement
on the latter. ‘Planet Queen’ has more of those beautiful Flo and Eddie
backing vocals though. ‘The Motivator’ is a nice little rewrite of ‘Get
It On’. Since I am now so close to doing it, I will mention every song.
That leaves ‘Life’s a Gas’ as a nice ballad but in my mind a distant third
compared to ‘Cosmic Dancer’ and ‘Girl’. I would be tempted to give this
album a 14, but I might have to settle for a 13. The weaknesses are obvious,
but it is such a great listen for T. Rex enthusiasts such as myself.

My version of the album also comes with eight “work in progress” tracks.
They are all the tracks except ‘Jeepster’, ‘Lean Woman Blues’ and ‘Girl’
presented as a rehearsal, demo, etc. I won’t discuss it too much considering
most people wouldn’t have it, but there are quite a few interesting parts,
and some important observations to be made. After listening to these demos
I realised that Mickey Finn’s percussion is more important to the band’s
sound than it would seem. Another observation is how important Flo and
Eddie’s vocals and the orchestration are as they are absent in these versions
(apart from ‘Mambo Sun’ in which the orchestration is more audible than
the final version). Interestingly, ‘Cosmic Dancer’ was originally an electric
ballad. I must say it sounds much better acoustically. If you are a T.
Rex fan you might also enjoy some of the studio banter that is provided
mostly by Marc.

I read many positive reviews about this thing and, in fact, was expecting
something more serious/catchy than this. Surely, I laughed at your review
after hearing the first lines of 'Metal Guru' (I was 100% assured that
such melodies would keep coming), but then... Now I have to agree with
you completely - The slider is just a mass-product. I find it hard
to enjoy more than half of these tracks, cause melodies are floating away
from Marc.

Well, 'The Slider' with its unforgetable 'And when I'm sad - I sli-i-ide'
is great. Marc is almost hissing on this track. 'Metal Guru' is wonderful,
too (but sometimes I feel that it's too long). And there's another track
present which I adore - 'Spaceball ricochet' (pity you didn't mention it).
Is it a reject from 'Beard of stars', I would like to know? Other tracks
are...well, not crap, but something very forgetable (even 'Telegram Sam').
Too long and too boring. How is it the best Bolan's album?!!! My rating
is somewhere between 6 and 7. PS.

Though, the cover is really great! I couldn't recognise Marc there.
Ringo does know how to make good photographs

Simon Castro <LeMysterioso@aol.com>
(03.01.2002)

I really dig this album. I know it falls a little
short of Electric Warrior in terms of idea and freshness, but you
have to give it up for the amazing production of this album! Tony Visconti
is truly the savior here, making Bolan's guitar sound fatter than ever,
and the delay effect on the drums is genius. Songs like "Baby Strange",
"Mystic Lady" and "Metal Guru" just sound great on
full blast. It's classic T.Rex. I think this album deserves at least an
8 out of 10 just for its sound.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com>
(06.09.2003)

This is what I started on, I found the vinyl in
a Goodwill and was so struck by the cover image that I bought the record
at once without even having a clue as to the music inside. And it's a perfect,
pure example of Marc at his simplest best, rocking out with doo-wop, boogie-woogie,
jazzy, and rockabilly roots. "Metal Guru" is a heart-stopping
teenbop opener and "Telegram Sam" is an awesome groovy hit single.
But "Ballrooms of Mars" might well be the best song here. Space
rock taken to it's glittery glam-ballad peak. Have you seen the video for
"Buick Mackane"? Marc is God. 9

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

Marc Bolan had gotten lazy and it doesn’t take a genius to work out
why. He had broken into the “teenybopper” market and the philosophy is
that if your image is up to standards you can sing almost anything and
it will be bought. I suppose that in 1972 the “teenybopper” market was
much different than it is now, T. Rex aren’t doing something like Backstreet
Boys or whatever other garbage teenage girls listen to now. In any event,
Marc knew he also had to deliver on his rock image as well as his new popular
image so in some respects this album is about halfway in between. That
being said, the album is not all that bad. I am a big fan of Marc Bolan
boogie so this appeals to me, but I will understand if you don’t like it.
I think the album offers good Marc Bolan ‘50s style riffs, but presented
in a ‘70s fashion much like he had already done on Electric Warrior,
but he overdoes it here, meaning that many of the songs can sound the same.
An instant observation is that Marc is so lazy in his lyrics. He has always
had quite a lot of repetition, but nothing quite like would appear on this
album. George alluded to this on ‘Ballrooms of Mars’ and ‘Main Man’. At
least he still maintains his trademark lyrical twists. They wouldn’t disappear
until Bolan’s Zip Gun.

Out of the ballads I would say that ‘Main Man’ is my favourite. I absolutely
love the refrain that you mentioned, even if it is just a tad overlong.
If you think the ending to that is overlong, how do you feel about the
ending to ‘Hot Love’? ‘Mystic Lady’ is also overlong with the repetition
of “Baby, baby, baby…”. ‘Spaceball Ricochet’ is very nice and features
the wonderful lyric “With my Les Paul/I know I’m small/but I enjoy living
anyway”. What’s that all about Mr. Bolan? ‘Ballrooms of Mars’ is quite
boring, made worse by the fact that the entire song is repeated as you
said.

As for the rockers, I don’t actually like ‘Metal Guru’ too much. This
is generally stated as T. Rex’s definitive glam song, but it still feels
neither here nor there for me. I prefer ‘Telegram Sam’ as the definitive
glam song, the lyrics are just as much nonsensical and it features a nice
riff with a catchy refrain. I am still trying to decide the most boring
generic boogie song here, and I would probably award it to ‘Rock On’. That
song really annoys me because it could have been much better. Here it may
be the epitome of a throwaway. Other candidates are ‘Baby Boomerang’ and
‘Baby Strange’ which are both generic, but to my mind offer at least a
little interest. ‘The Slider’ is indeed the greatest song, with wonderful
orchestration, and what sounds to be someone hissing (Marc?) in the left
channel. ‘Buick Mackane’ is also great, although you didn’t mention it.
I suppose it can also be regar! ded as generic like most of the other songs
here, but this one is hard and heavy unlike anything T. Rex have done or
would do later (except ‘Midnight’ I suppose). ‘Chariot Choogle’ is also
fairly heavy but not as good as ‘Buick Mackane’. I feel that Flo and Eddie’s
backing vocals save this one somewhat. And that leaves ‘Rabbit Fighter’
which is really one of those songs that comes and goes without you even
realising it. The bonus tracks do sound much like the album, but because
I like the album more than you do I don’t have too much of a problem with
them. ‘Cadillac’ has another nice riff and ‘Thunderwing’ seems like homage
to ‘50s rockers more than anything else. I don’t mind that at all. Oh and
contrary to popular belief the album cover wasn’t actually taken by Ringo
Starr. Tony Visconti took the picture, but it was credited to Ringo, probably
for the reason that it would advantage him if it seemed he was still mixing
with the big names. Incidentally, out of the thirteen tracks, twelve of
them have two words in the title, ‘Ballrooms of Mars ’ being the nonconformist.
Now that is consistency…

Paul Watts <paulwatts@optushome.com.au> (20.09.2005)

The credits might say Ringo took the photo, but that is shite.

Ringo was apparently credited in order to give the album a big name
in its credits.

Both front and back sleeve photos were really taken by producer Tony
Visconti.

That said, I've never liked this record much. The rather bland production
just doesn't appeal. There are good songs, certainly. 'Telegram Sam' is
a beaut little piece of meaningless frippery. 'Mystic Lady', 'Rabbit Fighter',
'Ballrooms of Mars' and 'Spaceball Ricochet' are all great. Unfortunately,
'Metal Guru' (which is Marc's ode to the motor car, prophetic in a way
since like Bowie he couldn't drive one and unlike Bowie he lost his life
in one) actually sucks badly. The semi acoustic versions that appear elsewhere
are preferable. The title track is equally cumbersome.

The best track appearing here is a tack-on. T.Rex recorded 'Thunderwing'
in November 1971 with one Howie Casey (later to tour with Wings) playing
saxophone, and it it just an absolute delight. Certainbly Marc's best B
side by some distance Other contenders for that mantle include 'Cadilac'
which also appears here and 'The King of the Mountain Cometh' which may
be found as a bonus on Electric Warrior these days.

David Gould <David.Gould@skillsforhealth.org.uk>
(11.10.2005)

Hello! Well im just discovering t.rex again.

I sort of got them when '20th Century Boy' was
re-released in the UK about 12 years ago, but I couldn’t quite get them.
I certainly remember hating this album when I first got it. But now i absolutely
love this album. Its one of those albums that you listen to, and you can
just tell that it was recorded at the absolute peak of the artist’s powers.
I don’t think there’s anything lazy here it all, its just Marc saying “im
Marc Bolan. I can do whatever I like. So there” And the production is one
of the best ive ever heard. And flo and eddie are at the peak of their
powers as well. Love it.

LEFT
HAND LUKE: THE ALTERNATE TANX

Paul Watts <paulwatts@optushome.com.au> (20.09.2005)

These comments pertain to all the alternate T.Rex releases, and particularly
the alternate Slider, Tanx, and Futuristic Dragon.

George in your Left Hand Luke review I think you may have stumbled
upon the same conclusion I have from close examination of the alternate
T.Rex series (and the highly recommended Bump 'n Grind CD as well).

Many of the tracks on these releases reveal Bolan and T.Rex in a much
different light to the oringinal releases. Many of the songs are much raunchier
in demo/working version form, and quite a few in my opinion are markedly
superior to the versions we were given originally.

I get the feeling that Marc's almost overnight transition from bopping
elf to major teen idol became something of an albatross around his neck.
He felt he had to release material that would maintain or later re-kindle
his stardom, when really he had the werewithal to become a much more serious
and substantial rock artist. Although his material in the main is quite
creative and enjoyable, you get the feeling it was aimed at the same 13-15
year old age group that Marc won over with 'Get it On', 'Hot Love' and
the Electric Warrior LP. Maybe he didn't realise that by 1973-4
these original fans were that much older and had moved on, and by continuing
to target that age group he lost much of his original audience without
really winning over a new one (unlike Bowie, whose music grew up with his
audience, although these days it doesn't, in the main, seem to have aged
as well as Bolan's, but that's just my opinion, others may differ). Much
of the criticism Marc received from the press of the day was of his failure
to move significantly forward, and this perceived need to cater for a certain
audience may be the reason why. He certainly, on the evidence of these
alternate recordings, had the ability and the T.Rex band were a more than
competent outfit. Despite this he continued to dress his songs (many of
them excellent) up in much the same way, at least until the final album,
Dandy in the Underworld, on which almost all the gloss was stripped
away.

Some excellent songs never saw release at all. One such song is 'Buick
Mackane and the Babe Shadow', which appears on the alternate Slider.
It is a red hot boogie workout with seriously excellent guitar and a very
tight rhythm. Apart from Marc's vocal, the song sounds a little like Z.Z.
Top's classic 'La Grange' from the same era. Maybe Marc thought this track
was too raunchy for his target audience, it is certainly different to the
sterile production of the Slider album. It should be noted that
this song is called 'Buick Mackane' on the Rabbit Fighter disc,
but it is a completely different song to that of te same name on The
Slider, and has long been known as 'Buick Mackane and the Babe Shadow'.

Certainly, Bolan's ability as a guitarist is easily underrated if you
just go by the regular releases, with the notable exception of the Zinc
Alloy album on which he for the most part appeared to abandon the glam
mindset.

Likewise, his use of the backing vocals of Gloria Jones (from Zinc
Alloy onwards) points to some perceived need for a certain feel to
his records, but unfortunately the Gloria card is oven overplayed. On these
alternative versions, more often than not Gloria is either not present
or much less prominent. Whether this is latter day production is hard to
say.

Of course many of these demos are basic acoustic outlines, and several
of them are quite enjoyable. I think the version of 'Mad Donna' that appears
here is superior to the final release.

The alternate Fururistic Dragon includes three versions of the
final track on the original album, 'Casual Agent'. The third of these (Track
16) is worthy of comment. Although the rhythm is similar to the final track,
the falsetto backing vocal is gone and the song is structured differently,
with all verses sung, then the chorus (I wanna be your casual agent) repeated
over and over, all in a deadpan Bolan singing voice (not the sheep style
singing he is most known for), all the while with a snarling T.Rex cooking
behind him. This one is definately worth hearing.

I also very much like the extended 'Sunken Rags' that appears on the
alternate Slider. 'Sunken Rags' as it was released was just a fairly
average B side outing, and not one of his greatest songs really, although
there's nothing really wrong with it, so one can only guess why Marc decided
against using the excellent extended jam on this song. Once again, I guess
it didn't fit his idea of a suitable release for his target audience.

A further such classic appears on Bump n Grind. 'Fast Blues'
is the forerunner of the single 'Solid Gold Easy Action', but is better
in just about every way. Absolutely frantic Bolan guitar ,an extremely
tight, very fast rhythm (similar in pace to the final product) and a frenzied
Bolan vocal. Different lyrics to the released version as well. This could
have been one of his very best songs. Why did he sanitize it? It was much
better left a little bit grubby.

At least these gems are now available and we can ponder what direction
his career might have taken with a slightly different attitude to the product
he was releasing.

Thank you, George. You made me change my opinion
about Tanx. Now I understand why I disliked this record. As you
probably know, 'CD-M' company issues a lot of two album discs. And it happened
so that I got Tanx together with Unicorn. The latter was
a wonderful experience so I expected the same result from Tanx.
Surely, I was disappointed to hear dance music... But now everything's
alright. I relistened it (about 5 times) and loved. Indeed, the number
of styles here amazes. I'll list the Top 5 of the songs that I like below
with little comments, OK?

2.'Tenement lady'. In fact, it comes very close
to the first line with its melody changing in the middle.

3.'Mad Donna'. Firstly was recognized by me as
a stupid boogie-woogie but then I found that it's very hook-filled.

4.'Shock rock'. Again, it has very strong tune
with catchy lyrics (yep, not melody).

5. 'Children of revolution' (bonus). This track
has the most catchiest (well, maybe 'Left hand Luke' is stronger) chorus
on the whole record.

Yes, that's a great record. In fact, the best
T-REX's (but not Tyrannosaurus Rex's, mind you) record (sorry, but this
time Electric warrior is overshadowed). Record that easily fits
every party - your friends will be happy!

PS. Okay, you've changed my humble opinion about
Tanx, but not Zinc Alloy. The latter is a great funk, which
deserves 10 points!

<MJRiding1@aol.com> (01.03.2003)

Tanx hit me when I was just awaking from
my childhood. The cover picture stuck with me and began a romantic phase
in my development. The songs, whilst too poppy in my later life really
caught my imagination at the time.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com>
(06.09.2003)

I love Tanx. Marc was definitely not losing
his edge, and it's a testament to the stupidity of the record-buying American
public that this album wasn't hoisted up as a masterpiece when it should
have been. Get the one with the bonus tracks, "Solid Gold Easy Action"
is worth the extra price alone. 9

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com>
(06.06.2004)

I finally got my hands on this album! And it was
the double version with Left Hand Luke too! I will discuss that
one at a later time once I have listened to it a little more. Now all I
need is to find T. Rex somewhere… But not to worry. I had already
heard all of the tracks on this album so I’ve always known that it was
a classic (sitting a tiny bit below Electric Warrior). But you are
right George, this is the album for you once you have finished with the
simple catchiness of Electric Warrior. This is where you can find
the perfect cross of T. Rex’s glam with Marc’s crazy lyrical imagery and
a little bit of everything else thrown in for good measure (not to mention
Marc’s vocal hooks are at their optimum). It is amazing to think that qualified
T. Rex critics (such as biographers) see this album as the beginning of
the end for T. Rex. It is also amazing that Marc Bolan claimed he was struggling
to write material and rushed the songs in the studio. To me the album is
absolutely bursting with ideas, while some of them miss the mark for me
(most notably ‘Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys’) the remainder of the
album more than makes up for it. There is more classic T. Rex boogie for
those who do like The Slider (‘Rapids’ ‘Born to Boogie’ and ‘Mad
Donna’), but there is so much more.

There are just so many great tracks, I wouldn’t
know where to begin…‘Tenement Lady’ is a fantastic track with some of the
most nonsensical lyrics you will ever see. Once the ‘Darling’ part of it
begins however, normality returns. In the same league as far as lyrics
go is ‘Electric Slim and the Factory Hen’, which is also a pretty good
song. I’m not so sure about your statement regarding this track as a Tyrannosaurus
Rex throwback though. Perhaps I am missing something so I will give the
track many close listens before deciding on this point. Anyway, the ballads
are beautiful as you have already said George. The best being ‘Broken-Hearted
Blues’ with the sweeping saxes being almost tear inducing. It feels silly
saying that as “tear inducing” saxes are almost always so obvious that
they lose all the emotion that they were intended to convey. Not here though,
it’s an utterly beautiful song. ‘Life is Strange’ is a nice relaxed meander
through Marc’s “philosophy” on the “strangeness” of life. ‘Mister Mister’
took me a little while to latch on to, in particular I was ambivalent towards
the arrangement and the “de-de-bom-bom de-de-bom-bom” chants you described.
But now they have gripped me by the collar and I can say nothing except
it is a quality track. ‘Highway Knees’ is absolutely beautiful, and I have
no idea why.

As for the rockier tracks, we have the fantastic
‘Rapids’ with a riff that is a slight variation of Marc’s trademark guitar
tone and the sarcastic ‘Shock Rock’. If you just caught ‘Shock Rock’ without
knowing too much about T. Rex you would think it is a poor excuse for a
song considering the seemingly lack of ideas and lyrics. The controversial
‘The Street and Babe Shadow’ might be the true precursor to the funk that
would appear in spades on the next album, but this track rocks mightily.
Likewise ‘Left Hand Luke…’ is a precursor for the subsequent gospel element,
but I do not like this track at all. It is hideously overlong and female
singers (which to the best of my knowledge do not include Gloria Jones)
are nauseating with the repetitive chorus which never seems to end. For
me this track is the only blemish on an otherwise amazing album.

Georges adage that a “good album = good bonus
tracks and conversely” is never more true than if you compare the bonus
tracks of Tanx with The Slider. While the bonus tracks of
The Slider are not bad, they appear meek in the enormous shadow
of the triad ‘Children of the Revolution’, ‘20th Century Boy’ and ‘Solid
Gold Easy Action’. Throw in ‘Jitterbug Love’ and you have the best set
of bonus tracks on a T. Rex album. Not only is ‘Children of the Revolution’
the violin masterpiece, it is also T. Rex’s pop masterpiece. The seamless
transition between the verses and the incessantly catchy chorus is masterful.
The track still remains one of my favourite T. Rex songs (along with ‘Hot
Love’). ‘20th Century Boy’ enters one domain that the album didn’t enter
into, namely hard rock, possibly even approaching heavy metal. And then
there is more of T. Rex’s famed boogie in ‘Jitterbug Love’ and ‘Solid Gold
Easy Action’, the latter traveling at an explosive pace.

David Gould <David.Gould@skillsforhealth.org.uk>
(11.10.2005)

Not sure about this album.

To me it's a definite let down after the slider.

A couple of thoughts

!) the production is weaker - I love that full
sound on the Slider, and anything less is bound to disappoint me.

2) saxophones - no! I bloomin' hate saxophones!

3) whats with all the mellotron? This aint 1967.

4) where'd flo and eddie go?

5) the songwriting - it sounds so lazy. Well,
maybe not the songwriting, but the performances do. Especially on 'Rapids'.
On any earlier album, this we be an exciting little rocker, but its certainly
not here. Sounds like a weak Slider outtake.

Overall, I do like this album, but I certainly
think it's a big let down after the slider.

Here I disagree with you, George. To me Zinc
Alloy sounds exactly as The slider or Tanx (yes, I don't
rate Tanx as high as you but I'll discuss it in my next comment).
The same glam formula and the same sound formula. Just look: Electric
warrior hadn't many instruments (percussion, electric guitar and bass
one) while Tanx and The slider were filled with great quantity
of instruments. And Zinc Alloy doesn't differ much. There are still
catchy melodies, such as 'Venus loon' (this hand clapping brings much to
the catchiness, doesn't it?), 'Teenage dream', 'Change' and 'The avengers'.
And like on two previous records there're completely unlistenable tracks.

As for 'self-embarrassment mixed with pretension
of the highest degree', it's darn funny. I really enjoy when Marc calls
to his and other artist's songs (e.g. Jimi Hendrix with his 'Foxy Lady').
Yes, I agree that later it grew unbearable and stupid, but this was later.
So I don't see much wrong about this album. Rather pretty collection of
pointless glam-songs mixed with some crappy tracks. In fact, Zinc Alloy
shouldn't get so much bashing as it gets but life is always unfair. If
there were just one song like 'Bang a gong', this record would be saved.
But...

[Special
author note: it's not the instrumentation
that matters, it's the diversity. Tanx had it all, from boogie
to blues to gospel; Zinc Alloy mainly presents Bolan as a self-taught
funker, and it hasn't got any emotional resonance, either.]

<DPREX@aol.com> (08.12.2001)

First time anyone has actually had the guts to
say that Gloria Jones did absolutely nothing for Marc Bolan/T Rex. I never
liked whatever influence she may have had in his musical direction...to
me he could not play and/or create American black/soul/disco music and
he should never have tried..Bowie did a far more credible job in that genre.
Also, the attention some of the web sites give his son I don't understand
either. Yes he is his son but what does that have to do with Marc/T Rex
music from the 60s and 70s?

Last, yes Tanx is definitely the most diverse
T Rex glam period album...I found it refreshing in 1973 and still do. A
really good live album from the 70-73 period would be nice...have yet to
hear one.....very very nice site!

Simon Castro <LeMysterioso@aol.com>
(03.01.2002)

After getting the first four abreviated T.Rex
albums, I was hungry for more Bolan material. When I listened to Zinc
Alloy I didn't know what to think. It sounded like spaced-out acid
funk gospel music! Ha ha. It left me a bit confused. After a few listens,
however, I found myself not being able to take it out of my car stereo
deck. And lo and behold, now I think it is one of the better T.Rex albums,
mainly because it is as much a self-conscious effort as it is an experimental
one. I mean, Marc really got down and funky with this one. You can picture
him doing some James Brown moves all over the place! You can also sense
he had a hoot of a time making this album, too, and for that reason it
is an interesting and fun listen (except for that "Leapords"
song which is just plain stupid.)

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

This album is nowhere near as bad as it is often said to be. Amongst
the fourteen tracks there is quite a bit of filler but for mind there are
lots of hidden gems as well. I have been told in the past that Marc still
wanted to be popular in America so he tried to suit his new style to traditional
American musical values. Obviously Gloria Jones was a big help as she was
a soul singer, but for me she is a huge disappointment. I can not stand
her voice nor can I stand the majority of the soul elements she brings
to the band. If Flo and Eddie were still there to provide backing vocals
I would probably award this album an 11. As it stands, I don’t think 9
is too harsh. The album was also panned by critics because its title sounded
too much like Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders
From Mars, and it seemed as though the mentor (Bolan) was copying the
protégé (Bowie). Oh and I should also mention in reply to
Sergey Zhilkin above, Electric Warrior did feature a lot of instruments
so you can’t use this as evidence for your argument (not that this matters
too much though).

‘Venus Loon’ is a pretty good way to introduce the new sound of T. Rex,
for better or worse. That is the new sound has potential to be good, but
for me it is all ruined by Gloria Jones. In this instance the chorus just
sounds dumb, but the verses are extremely good. ‘Sound Pit’ is good, and
Gloria keeps her nose out of it for most of the time which is a huge plus,
only present to provide “soulful” ahhhing. I also enjoy the references
to 'Metal Guru' and 'Telegram Sam'. ‘Explosive Mouth’ is another track
in much the same vein. As George said ‘Galaxy’ is pretty dumb. I don’t
think too much of ‘Change’ either, but it’s not too bad. ‘Nameless Wildness’
is another chance for Gloria Jones to ruin a song but I can just tolerate
her. I love your description of ‘Teenage Dream’, likening it to Roger Waters.
I had never thought about it in that way, but it is a most apt description.
For some reason the track is often listed in greatest hits packages but
I can’t for the life of me understand why. Well… I think it is to do with
the lyrics and its epic nature more than anything. The chorus and the “heavenly”
orchestration is especially annoying. Ok that’s the first side done, and
there are a couple of nice tracks but nothing to write home about.

The second side begins with ‘Liquid Gang’ which might just be my favourite
song on the album. The coda is something to remember. Not even Gloria Jones
can ruin this one. ‘You’ve Got to Jive…’ takes repetition to new extremes
and the second part of the track (‘Spanish Midnight’) being the same line
repeated three times. ‘Interstellar Soul’ is a complete razor. ‘Carsmile
Smith and the Old One’ is ummm… interesting I suppose. I’m not really certain
as it’s quite a weird track. Not as weird as ‘The Leopards…’ though. I
quite like Marc’s relaxed vocal delivery in that one so it gets the thumbs
up. With such a title, you would expect ‘Painless Persuasion…’ to be weird
too, but it’s more or less regular. That leaves ‘The Avengers (Superbad)’
which is also very good. Actually the whole second half is pretty good
with the orchestration more important than it would seem (the horn section
delivers the wonderful coda in ‘Liquid Gang’). Although I don’t see it
as far superior to the first side like you do George. I should also mention
the bonus tracks of which there are five. Two of them are completely unlistenable
as Gloria screeches like a mad woman. I will excuse her for ‘Satisfaction
Pony’ as it was dubbed from an inferior source when the original master
track could not be found. You can really hear the inferior quality of the
tape as it sounds like Gloria’s voice is completely unmodulated (a nightmarish
thought indeed). No excuse can be offered for ‘Truck On (Tyke)’ however.
Her voice is excruciating. The other three tracks aren’t too bad. ‘Sitting
Here’ actually features some of the nicest Gloria vocals you will ever
hear, and would be a nice song apart from the ridiculous lyrics. ‘The Groover’
and ‘Midnight’ are both pretty hard and heavy and I like both of them although
they don’t add too much to the T. Rex legacy.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com> (29.04.2004)

Everything I had read about this album and the next one prepared me
for the absolute worst. Perhaps I lowered my expectations a little too
low, but this really isn't all that bad at all. "Carsmille Smith"
and "Explosive Mouth" don't really do much for me at all but
there are plenty of terrific moments on this album. Like the dueling funk
guitar blasts on "Sound Pit", the starry-eyed trippiness of "Galaxy",
or robot groove of "Avengers". "Teenage Dream" was
a brilliant single, and "Nameless Wildness" was a forgotten classic.

No the songs are not bad but, obviously, there's something wrong. Maybe
it's all because of Marc's attempts to call his glory days back. Just compare
the cover of Tanx and the title of Zip gun. The songs are
written in the same way, too. The only difference is that they don't grab
you. All tracks have good or so-so melodies and it's strange that the only
thing I can say after hearing them is 'hmm... sometimes cute, sometimes
not'. Brr... I don't even take Zip gun as an album from Marc's catalogue.

Unfortunately, the results of Zip gun were awful. Micky Finn
quitted after the record failed and critics had a great chance to despise
Marc (and surely they didn't miss that chance).

Just a very bad nightmare. But Bolan will be back!

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

Well yeah, this is the obvious nadir of T. Rex’s career. However there
are enough redeemable factors to an 8 to be a fair rating. For one, there
are actually three tracks I like – ‘Think Zinc’, ‘Zip Gun Boogie’ and ‘Golden
Belt’. The last track is more of a throwawayish good song then anything
else. Furthermore, as George has stated there are no completely terrible
songs. The lyrics are mostly appalling, but Marc is able to make most of
the tracks at least slightly catchy, with a nice vocal hook here or a good
instrumental passage there. Tony Visconti has since departed and it really
shows. The sound is underdeveloped in many cases and there is no trademark
T. Rex orchestration. And of course Gloria Jones is still there in all
her “glory”. Luckily there are no cases of ‘Truck On (Tyke)’ here.

‘Light of Love’ is just completely dumb. It seems as though it was written
exclusively to become a radio hit or something like that but T. Rex were
no longer popular. I recall that when I first heard it I liked it somewhat,
but that is mostly because of its catchy nature rather than it being any
good. ‘Solid Baby’ has an interesting percussive effect. It sounds like
synthesised hand claps but I could be completely wrong. Anyway that’s about
the most exciting aspect of the song. ‘Space Boss’ and ‘Girl in the Thunderbolt
Suit’ are both dumb songs, no arguments there George. The ballads in ‘Precious
Star’, ‘Token of My Love’ and ‘Till Dawn’ are all pretty similar as far
as my feelings towards them are concerned. I would say the best is ‘Token
of My Love’ as it features some nice Gloria vocals (a rarity) but I’m not
big on the soul groove presented by the song. ‘Till Dawn’ is also above
average on this album. ‘I Really Love You Babe’ is pretty bad though, the
title tells you enough.

The relative highlights on the album consist mostly of the two rockers
‘Think Zinc’ and ‘Zip Gun Boogie’. ‘Zip Gun Boogie’ is for the most part
just your regular rocking T. Rex track which is very good for such an album.
‘Think Zinc’ is slightly above this though. There is a typical T. Rex riff
but it is mostly hidden. The rhythm section is far and above anything on
this album however and the chorus is very good. I’m not too sure what to
make of ‘Golden Belt’ though. Essentially it is a throwaway, but there
is something about it that I like, I just can’t put my finger on it. And
the bonus tracks aren’t too bad. ‘Dock of the Bay’ isn’t really T. Rex
considering Gloria Jones sings it all, but she sings it rather well. ‘Do
You Wanna Dance’ is an inoffensive cover of the famous song, but nothing
to salvage the album.

Although Marc was trying desperately to crack the American market Zinc
Alloy and Bolan’s Zip Gun weren’t released in the US. Instead
a composite album titled Light of Love was released which took the
best tracks from both albums. Not surprisingly it was thrown straight into
bargain bins. T. Rex was never popular in the US, and there is no way the
substandard pairing of Zinc Alloy and Bolan’s Zip Gun could
ever make any impression. Anyway, only purchase Bolan’s Zip Gun
if you are a completist.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com> (29.04.2004)

I have to agree with everything (including Marc) that this is the worst
T-Rex money can buy. The first 7 tracks, with the exception of "Space
Boss", are all pretty damn good, and it's only on the second side
when it all gets bogged down by psychedelic disco. It's definitely his
trashiest record, but in a lot of ways this is so much fun. "Solid
Baby" is interstellar rock-disco at it's finest, and "Token of
My Love" and "Til Dawn" are both brilliant examples of classic
T-Rex.

Paul Watts <paulwatts@optushome.com.au> (29.09.2005)

This record is canned mecilessly in most quarters, but to me isn't as
bad as is sometimes made out. Without a doubt it holds its age far better
than many recordings of the same time considered at the same time infinitely
superior to it.

Bolan's Zip Gun is no masterwork. It suffers in a number of areas.
Firstly, on many of the songs the vocal of Gloria Jones just spoils the
party. Just too overpowering. There are exceptions ('Golden Belt' comes
to mind). Secondly, the record is poorly produced. It has a fuzziness that
permeates pretty well every song, some worse than others. 'Think Zinc'
is an excellent T.Rex workout, but it's just a bit too grating in sound.
A Tony Visconti would have fixed this. The third problem is that it sounds
rushed, as though it was done to meet a very short deadline. This criticism
is quite apart from the less than perfect sound quality, some of the songs
sound unfinished. I would include 'Till Dawn' particluarly in this category,
and a few others as well.

Having got all that off my chest, the raw materials on display here
measure up quite favourably in comparison with other T.Rex LP's. There's
really only one absolute clunker on the album ('I Really Love You Babe')
and that might have been saved somewhat by the judicious use of a sock
on Ms Jones. The rest range from decent to excellent, with the proviso
that the faults listed above let the whole thing down. 'Precious Star',
'Space Boss', 'Solid Baby', 'Think Zinc', and even the fillerish 'Girl
in a Thunbderbolt Suit' are all great Marc Bolan songs, and 'Golden Belt'
is in my opinion a noble experiment in funk which is not a runaway success,
but worthwhile anyway.

Back to the album's faults. Side 2 of the vinyl record does not reach
15 minutes running time. Side 1 is OK, it lasts something like 19 minutes,
but under 15 minutes was unacceptable, especially with four of those 15
minutes being "I Really Love You Babe". Compare this to Side
2 of Zinc Alloy which ran for a triumphant 25 minutes, every second
of it more or less worthy. This tells me there was something funny going
on with Zip Gun. Like something was left off. I know that 'Golden
Belt' was shortened by about a minute from its earlier form but I'd be
surprised if a track wasn't discarded at the last minute. I could be wrong,
though.

David Gould <David.Gould@skillsforhealth.org.uk> (08.03.2006)

Right, I like this album.

Yes there are a few things wrong with it:

1) the lyrics are pretty rubbish by Marc's usual weird standards.

2) The production on a couple of the tracks sounds a little thin and
unfinished.

3) A couple of tracks sound a little throwaway and trash - notably Space
Boss, Think Zinc and Token Of My Love, which is really horrible.

Other than that this album is great. Its short and poppy. Nowt wrong
with that.

And whats all this nonsense about Zip Gun Boogie being his worst
single? (not sure you said that, but that seems to be the general consensus)
it's a great track. Its fun, catchy and it does indeed boogie.

Well, surely better than Zip gun but worse
than Zinc Alloy. I agree that the album is fully listenable but,
you know, it's like listening to the sounds of silence - nothing new. In
fact, this record is a mix of Marc's early period with glam-years. See,
Bolan goes back to mr. Tolkien but at the same time he doesn't forget his
glam formula (crazy vocal + loud guitar chords = everybody's happy). Not
that I hate this album but for me there're only three songs which I occasionally
listen to - 'Futuristic dragon', 'Chrome sitar' (well, really terrific
lyrics - '...Everybody asks who the hell you are,// Somebody scream, somebody
spoke,// Somebody said that life's just a joke'. Isn't this a song about
failed career?) and 'Jupiter liar'. Others? Don't ask me - I don't remember
them (but I swear that I listened this album four times at least!). Even
'New York' which you consider to be the best song. The bonus contains one
terrific song - 'Life's a elevator' ('Life's a gas'). OK, I REALLY don't
want to put down this record because, after all, it's way better than Zip
gun, so I'll give it 10/15, too but with one warning for those who
start their T-REX collection - this may be your last Bolan's record for
there is not a single essential song.

PS. Note about 'Life's an elevator'... Maybe it's
the elevator that takes you to the Heaven or to the Hell? Well, if Marc
really meant this, I hope that he was taken up, not down.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com>
(06.09.2003)

Okay, later Marc isn't exactly as good as the
earlier stuff, but people slag Gloria's backing vocals way too much, and
on tracks like "Chrome Sitar" and "Ride My Wheels",
it takes the music to a whole new dimension of soul. After "Dreamy
Lady" the album kind of sags but the whole first 2/3 are classic Bolan,
with intergalactic funk and sound-poetry thrown in for good measure (intro
song), and "Jupiter Liar" could have been on The Slider.
If this was a 'comeback album', it should have sent him through the roof.
8

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

This is a huge improvement over Bolan’s Zip Gun although there
still seems to be too many “silly” songs. Songs like ‘All Alone’, ‘My Little
Baby’, ‘Sensation Boulevard’, ‘Ride My Wheels’, ‘Dawn Storm’ and ‘Casual
Agent’ are for the most part reminiscent of Bolan’s Zip Gun. Nevertheless,
the remaining tracks are mostly big improvements. I would argue against
Sergey Zhilkin above who says that the album presents nothing new from
T. Rex. Show me a previous song like that sounds like ‘Futuristic Dragon
(Introduction)’ or ‘Theme for a Dragon’. The star of the show is ‘New York
City’. How Marc can make a simplistic song so catchy and memorable I will
never know. Apparently he wrote the song after he saw a woman carrying
a frog out of New York City! The introductory synths are great before going
into the song proper. The synthesisers also appear every now and again
to provide wonderful “bubbling” and “poisonous” lines. The song also had
a fantastic video clip. Not that the video clip is anything special but
it’s great to see Marc perform particular when he was so happy and enthusiastic.
The song temporarily catapulted T. Rex back into the public arena as it
became a hit single.

As for the other tracks, ‘Futuristic Dragon (Introduction)’ contains
great metallic-like distortion and feedback. I always thought it would
be great if Marc could have used this guitar tone a couple of more times
during the album, but sadly he doesn’t. ‘Jupiter Liar’ is a pretty good
pop song but with another great guitar tone. ‘Chrome Sitar’ is another
above average track and at this stage of the album is would seem that this
album is light years ahead of Bolan’s Zip Gun. However at about
this time the previously mentioned Zip Gun-like tracks appear and spoil
the album somewhat. If Marc was expecting the famous Russian reviewer George
Starostin to give this album a 12 or so in 23 years time, he would have
been well advised to replace this collection of songs with something superior.
‘Calling All Destroyers’ may also seem reminiscent of something like ‘Space
Boss’ or ‘Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit’ but this one is far superior. ‘Theme
for a Dragon’ is a hidden gem. The orchestration arrangement of the song
is great, giving it an ambitious epic-like feel. The last non Zip Gun-like
track is ‘Dreamy Lady’ which is a fairly simple disco track. The bonus
tracks aren’t too bad. I don’t like ‘London Boys’ too much, and ‘Laser
Love’ is pretty much an average track with no surprises. However, ‘Life’s
an Elevator’ is a nice acoustic piece. The two guitar riffs combine wonderfully
well, and it would seem that the lyrics are summing up Marc’s music career.
It makes a nice accompaniment with ‘Dandy in the Underworld’ which more
or less sums up Marc’s life.

Perversely, I have the alternate version of this album (Dazzling
Raiment). This is because I could not find the original album by itself
and had to buy the overpriced double version. I have also done the same
for Dandy in the Underworld (my sister bought it for me for Christmas
so I don’t mind about the price). I would like to get my hands on the alternate
version of Tanx but I can’t even find the original version –sigh–.
Anyway, the point I was about to make is that the alternate version doesn’t
offer too much even for a T. Rex aficionado like myself. It is interesting
to find out that ‘Dreamy Lady’ was originally meant to be a reggae track,
and the album contains two notable versions of ‘Futuristic Dragon (Introduction)’.
The song had a number of forms, featuring backwards phasing, extremely
silly Gloria Jones backing vocals and less prominent distortion and feedback.
In addition it is great to hear the stripped down version of ‘New York
City’. I would have loved an alternate version of ‘Theme for a Dragon’
which unfortunately isn’t on the album.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com> (29.04.2004)

I forgot to say how much "All Alone" rocks my world and how
it's my favorite T-Rex song of all time. By the way, people who don't like
Gloria's backing vocals need to re-listen to Warrior and Slider
cos her influence is all over those and it does nothing but help. I
saw a video of "Baby Strange" live and witrh her singing it sounded
like a lost Motown hit!

Paul Watts <paulwatts@optushome.com.au> (26.12.2005)

Just to correct Adam Brubeau, Gloria Jones does not appear on either
Electric Warrior or The Slider. Backing vocals on those recordings
was by Flo and Eddie and also Mickey Finn.

While she isn't credited, it certainly sounds like Gloria's voice on
'Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys', the final track on the Tanx
album, and possibly 'Mad Donna' as well from the same LP.

As for Futuristic Dragon, I think it is a major improvement in
production quality from Zip Gun, but the songs are about on par,
or just a tad weaker. 'Sensation Boulevarde' is my pick, along with 'Casual
Agent' (this song really cooks on the alternative version) and also the
instrumental 'Theme For A Dragon'. It seems this might have been the song
left off side 2 of Zip Gun. In fact it was originally the title
track of that album, my research reveals. It originally had lyrics. For
some reason it was left off and resurfaced as an instrumental in Futuristic
Dragon. Unless I'm mistaken, it is the only instrumental in the entire
T.Rex calalog, although both sides of A Beard of Stars (Tyrannosaurus
Rex) began with instrumental tracks.

The cover of this record is by George Underwood, who also did the cover
of My People Were Fair almost a decade earlier. It shows a rather
portly Bolan carrying a lance and shield (which bears the name T.Rex),
perched aboard a curiously undersized dragon. The beast doesn't look as
though it would be able to become airborne with this burdon to carry. A
rather odd cover, to say the least.

Yeah, a clear comeback. Marc now has no ambitions and only thing he
wants from you is nice criticism which is good, and, plus to that, he's
afraid to fail, which is even better because he will really work hard to
hit Top20. The formula is, however, the same. I mean it's polished now
and looks little bit different, but, in fact, Dandy could be a follower
of Warrior.

What surprises me now, is the fact that all songs are quite strong,
not to say catchy. And, thanks God, there's no concept in the vision so
you can listen songs in shuffle-mode, not caring about losing the salt
of song. My favorites are 'Hang-ups', 'Jason B.Sad', 'Teen riot structure'
with its funny lyrics and the title track, which has a little bit messy
sound, but this only makes it better.

Oh, and the tracks are short which means that you won't be bored to
death, but at the same time this slaggs my favourite 'Hang-ups' which is
way too short.

June Gibbs <junegibbs@minder.org> (07.08.2001)

I was a huge T.Rex fan when I was younger. The saddest fact about Marc
Bolan, despite him him often having over inflated ideas about his musical
ability and indeed his own popularity, was that by 1977, he was clearly
making a comeback.

I love Dandy in the Underworld. It is a tremendously 'new' sounding
album, not just for the T.Rex sound, but I think for 1977 as well. 'Soul
of My Suit', a number 42 underated single (why didn't people buy this?),
was a refreshing start for Bolan, most notably in the heavy keyboards,
bass and drums used on the album, that indicated the mix of disco/punk
in 1977.

When Marc Bolan died on September 16th, the music world lost an abundance
of talent. His songwriting was not brilliant, his guitar playing purely
mediocre by modern standards, but he was overall a perforner. He captivated
auduiences with a wink of an eye. What makes Dandy in the Underworld
so unique is that it is (not was) one of those few 'the best is yet to
come' albums. If a modern band produced a record like this, it would be
a masterpiece.

Stephen Rutkowski <a_saucerful@hotmail.com> (07.01.2004)

Marc Bolan, the newly self-proclaimed godfather of punk, delivers a
good but not great album. If the punkers tell you that they brought simple
music structures to the public front, don’t believe them. T. Rex had already
done it six years ago. Still this is not a punk album by any means, most
of the tracks are not punkish and only ‘Teen Riot Structure’ has punk lyrics.
The album is another improvement with the legacy of Bolan’s Zip Gun
almost completely disappearing, with ‘Universe’ and ‘I’m a Fool For You
Girl’ probably being the only throwbacks to this era. I don’t care for
these two songs. Thankfully ‘Universe’ isn’t as silly as its brother ‘Galaxy’
from Zinc Alloy. Other tracks that aren’t too hot include ‘Visions
of Domino’, ‘Hang-Ups’ and ‘Teen Riot Structure’. These songs are not too
bad but the other tracks are much better. ‘Teen Riot Structure’ despite
its provocative title isn’t really a punk song, and I feel it has silly
lyrics. I also don’t rate ‘Jason B. Sad’ too highly, but it has its moments.

As for the better songs, the title track is the last ever T. Rex classic,
with fantastic lyrics, and a nice sing along chorus. ‘I Love to Boogie’
is almost ridiculous in it’s simplicity but it somehow manages to work
nicely. ‘Crimson Moon’ is pretty much in the same vein, but it doesn’t
quite work as well. I was fairly impressed with the track though, because
even if it is ripped off, the riff sits just nicely behind the track in
an Electric Warrior/Slider style. ‘Groove a Little’ has a nice little synth
riff that true to the title makes you want to move your feet. ‘The Soul
of My Suit’ is similar to ‘Dreamy Lady’ with its disco beat and synths,
but I feel the results are even better here. For me, the guilty pleasure
here is ‘Pain and Love’. I still cannot work out why I like this song so
much. The melody seems fairly simple, Marc doesn’t do anything particularly
amazing with the vocals and there isn’t a guitar riff in sight. I think
it must be because of the integration of the vocals and the sweeping, ascending
and descending synthesiser.

As for the bonus tracks there are a couple of unnecessary bores (‘City
Port’ and ‘Tame My Tiger’) and a completely superfluous version of ‘Dandy
in the Underworld’. You may find interest in playing spot the difference
between this and the original though. ‘To Know You is to Love You’ is a
cover of some old song, and sounds pretty good if you can ignore the cheesy
lyrics. The most interesting track here is the fast ‘Celebrate Summer’.
The lyrics are delightfully upbeat, and suggest that Marc was in a much
happier state at this stage than 2-3 years previously. If George’s suggestion
of moving ‘Dandy in the Underworld’ to the last track isn’t realised, at
least it is fitting that ‘Celebrate Summer’ finishes the album for those
who ! have the bonus tracks.

I also have the alternate version of the album (Prince of Players).
Again, this album presents nothing particularly interesting for non T.
Rex enthusiasts except possibly the last track titled ‘Weird Strings’.
Clocking in at 5.33, its track length and title would suggest the song
is something vastly different than most T. Rex songs. The suggestions are
not wrong. It is the melody of ‘Celebrate Summer’ repeated on a synthesised
string section with occasional errors, an accidental(?) moment of dissonance,
and a few synthesiser blips and loops thrown in. A complete surprise if
you managed to make it to track 21 on an archive album.

Adam Bruneau <oliver5200@hotmail.com> (29.04.2004)

I like it a lot. It's definitely an improvement over Zip Gun
but I'm not so sure if I like the actual sound of this one more than Futuristic
Dragon. Gloria is nowhere to be found and all the soul is gone. I like
the gothy element he has going on a few songs, and I really like the low,
low vocals on a couple tracks as well. Good way to go out, Marc!

ACROSS
THE AIRWAVES

Michael McDonough <mcd66@home.com> (15.07.2001)

This is a lot of fun for Bolan fans. It provides a nice sampling of
his progression from 1968-71 for those who already have the Tyrannosaurus
Rex and early T*REX albums.

Bolan's insane guitar noodling is certainly evident on many tracks here.
The studio albums always tried to mask some of the anarchy through fades,
splices and overdubs, but on these simpler recordings Marc was able to
flail away to his heart's content.

The track list is definitely a bit jumbled, and it's really appalling
that no airdates or personnel listings are given. A lot of the songs go
faster here than they do in the studio versions (some sound hurried) and
the sound is kind of thin and brittle ( a lot of the tracks are in mono).
Overall the plusses outweigh the minuses though, and make this a worthwhile
one of the better non-studio collections.